Over the past few years, the dance music community has certainly undergone a momentous paradigm shift with sentiments toward the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs reader poll. Indeed, the widely-publicized, reader-voted ranking system is a polarizing list, deemed by many to be a popularity contest which can be easily gamed.

In an effort to highlight a wider array of artists DJ Mag has initiated a series of geography-specific polls, with users voting on nominees compiled by the publication’s staff. The newest of these aims to celebrate the producers, performers, labels, and venues of North American dance music community. Expanding upon the existing “Best Of British Awards”, the outlet’s newly created  Best Of North America Awards starkly contrasts the DJ Mag Top 100 list through its diversity, categorical specificity, and emphasis on more underground aspects of the dance music realm.

The results announcement for this first-ever poll will be on July 4th followed by a series of events featuring the winning artists.

The nominations for this year are listed below:

Best DJ
Maceo Plex
Green Velvet
Heidi
The Black Madonna
The Martinez Brothers

Best Breakthrough DJ
Lauren Lane
Mike Servito
Mad Zach
Brian Cid
Blond:ish

Best Live Act
Thundercat
Bob Moses
SHADED
Porter Robinson
Autograf

Best Producer
12th Planet
Omar-S
Moodymann
Carl Craig
Dennis Ferrer

Breakthrough Producer
Layton Giordani
Avalon Emerson
MANIK
DJ Earl
Eli Escobar

Best Label
OWSLA
Dirtybird
My Favorite Robot
Brainfeeder
Ghostly International

Breakthrough Label
Monstercat
Discwoman
Tuskegee Music
Perspectives Digital
Honey Soundsystem (HNYTRX)

Best Venue – West
Exchange LA (Los Angeles, CA)
Halcyon (San Francisco, CA)
Sound (Los Angeles, CA)
Audio (San Francisco, CA)
Lot 613 (Los Angeles, CA)

Best Venue – Northeast
Soundcheck (Washington, DC)
Output (Brooklyn, NY)
House Of Yes (Brooklyn, NY)
Rumors (Philadelphia, PA)
Bijou (Boston, MA)

Best Venue – South
Trade (Miami, FL)
Heart (Miami, FL)
Ethics (Austin, TX)
301 (El Paso, TX)
The Music Room (Atlanta, GA)

Best Venue – Midwest
Smart Bar (Chicago, IL)
The Grasshopper Underground (Detroit, MI)
The Old Miami (Detroit, MI)
The Mid (Chicago, IL)
Primary (Chicago, IL)

Best Venue – North
Coda (Toronto)
Beach Club (Montreal)
Open Studios (Vancouver)
Stereo (Montreal)
Nest (Toronto)

Best Track/EP
Victor Calderone ‘Inside’ EP
Honey Dijon ‘Houze’ feat. Seven Davis Jr.
Moon Boots ‘Tear My Heart’ feat. Lulu James
Sian ‘Dune’
Floorplan ‘Tell You No Lie’

Best Remix
Planetary Assault Systems ‘Booster’ (Octave One Remix)
MALAA ‘Diamonds’ (Gerry Gonza Remix)
AD/D ‘Motorcity Surise’ (Art Department Remix)
Tiga ‘Planet E’ feat. Hudson Mohawke (Danny Daze Polyester Remix)
Truncate ‘7_1’ (Ambivalent Remix)

Best Compilation
Soul Clap: Fabric 93
Ron Trent Presents Prescription: Word, Sound & Power
Howsla Curated By Chris Lake & Skrillex
Dirtybird Campout Compilation
Matthew Dear: DJ-Kicks

Outstanding Contribution
The Belleville Three
Kerri Chandler
Jeff Mills
Masters At Work
Gary Richards

Tags: Best Of North America Awards, dj mag

Categories: Music